


Lavender Lightning

by fezwearingjellybananas



Series: AU Snippets [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Episode: s01e01, F/M, M/M, Metahuman Iris West, Minor Barry Allen/Eddie Thawne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 18:22:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17813093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: When Iris West was a child, her best friend's mother was murdered, and her dad took him in. Barry's spent the past fourteen years looking for proof of the impossible, to find out what really happened to his mother, and to free his father.Then Iris woke up with superpowers





	Lavender Lightning

The first thing Barry did when he got back to Central City was run to Iris’ lab. At least, Iris assumed it was the first thing he did, since he appeared in her doorway wheezing with his laptop bag still slung over his shoulder. He put his hands on his knees to try and catch his breath.

“So much for one day in Starling,” Iris said.

“Yeah, I got…” Barry trailed off. “Held up?”

“What?”

“Anyway, I made it. I’m ready, we can go now.”

“I’ve still got evidence to process,” Iris said. “I don’t think I will make it after all.”

“But you’re the one who wanted to watch the accelerator turn on.”

“That was before this morning. You missed a bank robbery.”

Footsteps came from the door to Iris’ lab. Barry moved out the way as her dad walked in.

“What are you two doing?” he asked. He raised an eyebrow at Barry. “Are you bothering Iris at work again?”

“She wanted to go and watch the accelerator turn on,” Barry said.

“And you have your laptop with you because…”

“I was at the library?”

“I’ve got a hit, Dad,” Iris jumped in before Barry completely gave himself away. She looked at her computer. “The faecal matter I found at the crime scene contains oxytetracycline.”

“That’s an antibiotic,” Barry said.

“Some farms use it routinely,” Iris said. “There are five around Central, those seem like the best places to start looking. Which does mean all my work is done now, so…”

“I’ll see you later,” Iris’ dad said. “You can tell me all about what you saw this atom do.”

“I’ll explain again later,” Iris said. She put her arm through Barry’s. “Bye, Dad, love you!”

* * *

S.T.A.R. Labs had announced their particle accelerator was going to turn on months ago, and Iris had almost been counting down the days. It was going to change the world, she could feel it.

Barry had just seemed happy to see her happy. Every time he listened patiently while Iris rambled on about how it could change physics reminded her just why she was in love with him. Tonight was no different.

But maybe it was.

They’d stopped off at Jitters on the way. Barry had bought her a coffee, like he always did, arguing with his employee’s discount it made the most sense. He let her slip her arm through his again, because they were best friends, and they’d always been comfortable when in each other’s space. They were more than best friends, they’d grown up in the same house.

“So,” Iris said. “Starling City.”

“A lot happened,” Barry said. “I’ll tell you later. I think I accidentally went on a date?”

“Were they nice?”

“Felicity’s lovely. But she’s also pining after her friend, and he’s pining after her, and I’m not getting in the middle of that. Besides, she didn’t feel like the right one, you know?”

Iris’ heart skipped. Barry had never had a lasting relationship. The longest he’d ever dated was Becky Cooper for six months. She’d always hoped that it meant he felt the same.

She should tell him. Now was the perfect chance to tell him. She’d been making excuses for years, tonight she’d tell him.

“Speaking of people who are pining,” Iris said. “And relationships, the right one, you know. Everything. I was thinking.”

Just tell him, Iris told herself. Tell him the truth.

“Let me guess,” Barry said. “Joe and D.A. Horton still haven’t acknowledged the elephant in the room.”

“They have not,” Iris said. Maybe tomorrow. She’d tell him tomorrow. “I think we might have to set them up.”

“I really don’t think I should interfere in your dad’s love life,” Barry said.

“What love life? He refuses to tell Cecile he likes her.”

“I’m sure he has his reasons. Oh, look, there’s Doctor Wells.”

“Yeah.” Iris sighed. Barry clapped along with the crowd, as excited as the rest of them. She really should tell him. She could still tell him now.

Someone bumped into them and ran through the crowd.

“Hey,” Barry said. He reached for his shoulder. “Wait, my laptop-”

Iris shot after them.

“Iris!”

She ran through the crowd. Barry’s bag was flapping on the mugger’s shoulder. He was fast.

And he jumped a fence. Iris’ dad had taught her the basics of boxing, she could hold her own in a fight, but jumping a fence that was twice her height? Not going to work.

She scanned the length. There, a gap-

“Freeze!” a familiar voice said.

* * *

“Sorry about the accelerator,” Barry said. It hadn’t taken him long to catch up, and they’d made their way back to C.C.P.D.

“It’s fine,” Iris said. “We wouldn’t have much to see anyway.”

“But still. If I hadn’t missed the first train, I would have had time to drop my bag off. Or the second.”

“You didn’t deliberately miss the train.”

“No. I missed the first one, but I was early for the second. I just got kidnapped before I could catch it.”

“You got kidnapped? Barry, what the hell?”

“Who is that guy anyway?” Barry nodded at the detective who’d stopped the thief. “I don’t recognise him.”

“That’s Detective Thawne, he just transferred in from Keystone.”

“The one Joe calls Detective Pretty Boy? I can see why.”

“Stop changing the subject. You got kidnapped?”

“For a good reason? Can we talk about this when we’re not surrounded by cops?”

“Barry.”

“West,” Captain Singh called from his office door. “There’s a leak from upstairs.”

“I’ll go and see what’s happened, sir,” Iris said. “I’ll be back in a second, Barry, then you can explain Starling City.”

Iris rushed up the stairs and into her lab. That was weird, the skylight was open, she didn’t remember opening that. She wasn’t even sure why the crime lab had a skylight.

Iris grabbed hold of the chain and pulled. The rain was really coming down now, it had been clear skies half an hour ago.

That was the last thing she remembered.

* * *

There was music coming from somewhere. Something familiar. Was that one of her dad’s jazz records?

Iris opened her eyes. This wasn’t her apartment. Or her dad’s. It wasn’t even her lab, and Iris was pretty sure she’d been in her lab a few minutes ago. Right? She’d been with Barry, and Captain Singh had told her there was a leak.

“Take it easy,” a guy with long hair said. “You’re safe.”

“Can you urinate in this for me?” a woman asked.

“Not right now, Caitlin, she just woke up.”

“That’s why I need a urine sample.”

“Where am I?” Iris asked. She seemed to be wearing a hospital gown? This didn’t look like a hospital. Maybe the white walls, and the medical equipment, but it was way too empty for a hospital.

“S.T.A.R. Labs. I’m Cisco Ramon, this is Doctor Snow.”

So, not hospital. But she’d left S.T.A.R. Labs, right? She’s chased after the guy who stole Barry’s bag. And it had been crowed, why was it so empty now?

“You were in a coma,” Doctor Snow said. Maybe Iris had been speaking aloud, or maybe the confusion had just shown on her face. “You were struck by lightning.”

“For how long?” Iris asked. She swung her legs around and pushed herself off the bed.

“Nine months,” Cisco said.

Iris looked down at her feet placed very firmly on the floor, her legs with no wobble in them at all. Iris hadn’t done much on medicine, but she knew enough for basic forensics, and Barry had started a medicine degree, even if he’d switched to journalism not long into it. And if she’d been in a coma for nine months, she should have some kind of muscle loss.

Nine months.

“Then how am I standing up?” Iris asked.

“That, Ms West,” a voice she knew said from the doorway, “is something we need to discuss.”

* * *

Doctor Snow gave Iris some clothes before she went to talk to Doctor Wells. Iris handed her the urine sample too.

“Mister Allen said you came to watch the accelerator turn on,” Doctor Wells said.

“Barry was here?”

“He’s here a lot, as are your parents,” Doctor Wells said. Parents, that was… “After half an hour, we developed a fault. The accelerator went critical. It created a storm.”

“Which created the lightning bolt that hit me,” Iris said. “Is that why I’m here instead of a hospital?”

“I did feel regret for your situation and offered to help your father, yes. The hospital was having difficulty treating you, your heart was stopping, often coinciding with power failures. It was only after we brought you to S.T.A.R. Labs we discovered it wasn’t stopping, it was just beating too fast for the machines in the hospital to register.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Nor does why my muscles didn’t atrophy, or why I’m pretty sure I have abs now. Lightning strikes do not normally give people abs. Do they?”

“Not to my knowledge. We still have a great many questions, Ms West, which is why we’ll have to do a lot of tests.”

None of this made any sense. She’d been in a coma for nine months because of lightning, maybe she was still in a coma, maybe…

Barry had been here. Barry had been at C.C.P.D. with her.

“Can they wait?” Iris asked. “I think I need to find my dad and Barry.”

* * *

Nine months, and Barry was still working at Jitters. At least that hadn’t changed.

He dropped his tray when he saw her open the door. Iris stared as it fell in slow motion. She could reach out and grab the mugs. She could, she knew she could.

Then they smashed on the ground and that didn’t matter because Barry was hugging her, almost lifting her off the ground, and things were right again.

“I didn’t know you were awake.”

“I only just woke up,” Iris said.

“Should you even be here?”

“I had to see you.”

“Excuse me, sir,” a woman said. “There’s smashed mugs on the floor.”

“I apologise, ma’am,” Barry said. He turned back to Iris. “I finish at four?”

“I’m going to go see Dad, but I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

C.C.P.D. was as busy as ever. A few officers patted her on the shoulder and welcomed her back.

A young man was sitting at her dad’s desk. His eyes widened when he saw Iris.

“Hi,” she said. He just gulped. Did she know him? Iris was pretty sure she didn’t know him.

“Iris?”

She knew that voice though, and Iris spun around and leapt up to wrap her arms around her dad.

“Iris,” he said, hugging her just as tight. “When did you wake up?”

“Just now. I’m fine, Dad. There’s some weird stuff going on, but I’m fine, really.”

“Are you all right, Wally?” he asked over Iris’ shoulder.

“Fine, um, Dad,” the guy said. Iris frowned. “It’s not important.”

“Dad?” Iris asked.

“Joe, there’s been another bank robbery,” Captain Singh said.

“I’ve got to go,” he said, letting go of Iris. “But I’ll explain everything later. Come on, partner.”

“Good to see you again, Iris,” Detective Thawne said. He followed her dad out.

She turned back to the other guy.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Wally. I guess you’re my sister?”

Someone reached for Doyle’s gun. Iris rushed forward, handcuffed them to the table, then was back before Wally finished holding out his hand. He blinked and frowned.

“Hi,” she said. “I have to go. Back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Right now.”

“I can drive you?” Wally asked.

“No. Nope. It’s fine. Nice to meet you. Excuse me.”

Iris rushed outside. Her hands were vibrating. They couldn’t possibly be moving that fast, that was impossible.

She crashed into one of the cars parked there, and the window shattered.

“I’m hallucinating,” Iris said. “This has to be a hallucination.”

Unless…

Iris looked up and down the alley. Completely empty.

She ran.

* * *

“Super speed,” Doctor Snow said once Iris had run back to S.T.A.R. Labs and explained what had just happened. Or at least what she thought had happened.

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “I just met a guy who’s apparently my brother, you said I was in a coma for nine months and now I have abs, my other theory is that this is a really weird dream.”

“Lightning strikes can sometimes interfere with your brain.”

“I have an idea,” Cisco said.

* * *

Running felt amazing. Iris had clocked three hundred miles an hour down Ferris Air’s old testing ground’s runway. Cisco had been measuring with one of his inventions.

She could have run forever, she knew she could.

At least, until she noticed the lightning around her.

Barry.

So, stopping was going to take some work.

* * *

After her- rather spectacular, according to Cisco- crash, they’d driven back to S.T.A.R Labs so Doctor Snow could give Iris’ wrist an x-ray, they could eat some lunch (Cisco had a large stash of food), and they could do some more blood tests, and all sorts. Iris had spent just as much time trying to catch up on what had been going on for the past nine months.

Her wrist ached, but not nearly as much as it had a few hours ago. Iris assumed the painkillers Caitlin (she’d insisted) had given her were finally kicking in, right up until she accidentally moved her wrist and it barely ached.

Caitlin x-rayed it again.

“Your wrist healed in three hours,” Caitlin said. “That’s incredible.”

“What happened, Ms West?” Doctor Wells asked. “Before you crashed.”

“I remembered something Barry told me once. I have to go and see him.”

“Iris-” Cisco said.

“I will tell you everything, but I think I have to ask Barry first.”

* * *

Iris had so much to tell him. About her powers, about the man in the lightning.

And what she hadn’t told him nine months ago.

He was outside Jitters, just like he’d said he would be.

He was also kissing Eddie Thawne.

Oh.

Iris stepped back. She shouldn’t have seen that. Barry would have told her that, she should have waited.

She should have told him the truth.

She was fast enough to shrink back, come around the corner again, pretend she hadn’t seen. Pretend like her heart didn’t feel like it was breaking in two.

Only, Barry was waving at her. He had that big smile on his face again, and Iris forced herself to smile back. Barry looked happy. If he was happy, that was all she wanted. All that mattered. He didn’t know. How could he know, she’d never told him.

“Hey,” he said. “Um.”

“I’ll see you later, Bare,” Eddie said. Bare, that was the nickname Iris had given him when they were children. Only Iris and her dad called him that. No one else got away with it, except maybe Henry, except Henry always called him Slugger, because he’d got in a fight that day, with Tony Woodward because he was picking on Albert. Nora had told Henry Barry had won, even though Barry had more run away and got beaten up. Iris knew these things, he was Barry, she knew everything.

“Bye, Eddie,” Barry said. Iris had never seen that look on his face before. Oh, she really couldn’t be jealous of Eddie, not if he had Barry looking at him like that. Or maybe she could be jealous, but she couldn’t hate him.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Iris,” Eddie said.

“Thanks, Eddie,” she said.

Eddie walked away and Barry nervously smiled.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Iris asked. “It’s been a really long day. There was this kid at the station calling Dad dad, and now you’re kissing Dad’s partner, and-”

“Yeah, let’s go for a walk,” Barry said. He looped his arm around Iris’, just like they had to walk to S.T.A.R. Labs. “We can walk home.”

“You’re living with Dad again?”

“No, I still have my apartment, but Joe will want you home for family dinner tonight. Where do you want to start?”

“Wally.”

“He’s a good kid. You’ll like him. He’s doing engineering, he’s really smart, and pretty stubborn. He’s quite a lot like you.”

“And he’s my brother.”

“Yes. Joe will want to explain the rest of it.”

“Then what happened to Fred?”

“Clyde Mardon killed him, right before you got struck by lightning.”

“Oh. And that’s why Detective Thawne is Dad’s partner now, and how you met him.”

“Eddie covered a lot of Joe’s shifts, so he could visit you. So, I bought him coffee to say thank you, and it went from there. He’s nice.”

“What does Dad think?” Iris asked. Barry didn’t say anything. “Dad doesn’t know? You’re dating his partner, and he doesn’t know? Barry, aren’t there department regulations about dating your partner’s child?”

“Maybe? But Joe isn’t my dad.”

“Yeah, but he thinks of you-”

“We’re not starting this again. My dad is sitting in Iron Heights for something he didn’t do, and Joe still refuses to believe me. I don’t have to tell him anything.”

“So, you didn’t tell him about getting kidnapped in Starling City.”

“No. All I have to do is find proof the man in the lightning exists, then I can get my dad out of prison. I’m getting close, Iris, I know I am, there’s been all sorts of weird stuff going on while you were in a coma.”

Proof. Iris could be the proof he needed. All she had to do was run.

“Barry, there’s something-”

Time seemed to slow as a car sped past. Iris looked through the window.

Clyde Mardon was driving.

She rushed to open the car door and sat in the front seat.

“What the-”

Iris yanked on the steering wheel to stop him. She jumped out the car just as it flipped.

Sirens were racing towards them. Clyde Mardon was standing opposite her, and fog was rolling in around them.

Mardon was making the fog cover them.

“Iris!”

Barry.

Iris stepped back. At normal speeds. The police had arrived. Barry, Barry-

There he was, under the bridge, with her dad. They were arguing. Two things hadn’t changed then.

“Clyde Mardon is dead, Barry!”

“I know what I saw! Iris, tell him.”

“It did look like Clyde Mardon, Dad,” Iris said.

“You shouldn’t have even been out here, you just woke up,” her dad said.

“I needed some air. The fact I have a brother threw me out.”

“I didn’t know either. Francine left when you were four, before Wally was born, she only came back because she heard about your coma.”

“Left?”

“She overdosed. You called 911. By the time I got home, you were in front of a lit stove and Francine was unconscious. I checked her into rehab, the next day she checked herself out and left. I didn’t want you to feel abandoned.”

“So, you let me think she was dead instead? Thank you for that, Dad, that was so much better.”

“I’m sorry, Iris. It was a mistake.”

“I have to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs,” Iris said. “This was just a quick break, I have some more tests to do before they can say I’m okay.”

“I’ll take you,” Barry said. “There’s a bus stop just up here.”

Iris’ dad nodded, and the two of them walked away.

Iris heard Eddie say something about a witness sketch as they left.

* * *

 Barry had spent at least five minutes outside S.T.A.R. Labs before Iris convinced him she’d be fine. She’d call him if she needed anything, and if not, she’d see him at her dad’s for family dinner. Besides, Barry had left his bike at Jitters when he’d walked with Iris instead, he’d need it to get to work the next day. Unless he wanted to borrow her car, but Barry refused that with his usual excuse of a lack of parking. He mentioned visiting Henry after that, and finally left Iris to walk into S.T.A.R. Labs alone.

She wasn’t sure why she’d sent Barry away. She’d left to tell him about all this, to find out if it was all right for her to tell Cisco, Caitlin, and Doctor Wells about Nora, and instead she’d found out she wasn’t the only one affected by the particle accelerator. But Barry would back her up. Barry would believe her. This would give Barry the proof he’d been looking for for the past fourteen years.

So, why was she so reluctant to tell him?

Maybe her conflicting feelings over Barry were why she yelled at Doctor Wells about not telling her she wasn’t the only one affected by the accelerator too. He was technically right, he’d never said she was the only one the accelerator affected. He just hadn’t mentioned anyone else. He was also convinced she should leave Mardon to the professionals too. Only, that meant her dad, and her dad couldn’t face someone like Mardon. He couldn’t. He was completely unprepared for that, and Mardon had killed Fred Chyre before he got powers.

Iris couldn’t let her dad get hurt.

“I actually have something,” Cisco said. He pulled a sheet off a mannequin to reveal a yellow suit with red legs and half a cowl covering most of the face. It had an opening at the top, and red lines along the seams. “I know it won’t fit you, and it’s not finished, but I designed it for the fire service so it should be able to withstand the heat from the friction when you run.”

“Cisco,” Doctor Wells said.

“I know. But if Iris is right, if this man can control the weather, what can the police really do?”

“What can we do?” Caitlin asked. “You stop him and then what? You think he’d stay in Iron Heights just because he got arrested?”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “But Clyde Mardon killed my dad’s partner. I’ve known Fred since I was a child. I know how to take care of myself, I come from a family of cops, Dad taught me to box when I was six. And I have this speed, I have to try and do something.”

“That suit really won’t fit you,” Caitlin said.

“I’ll have to roll the sleeves up. Can you find Clyde Mardon?”

“If he uses his powers,” Doctor Wells said. “Yes.”

* * *

Iris knew this address. This was on the list of possible farms she’d given her dad before.

Eddie was lying unconscious on the barn floor. She left him in the recovery position and raced outside.

Her dad was standing face to face with Clyde Mardon and his growing tornado.

“I could really use some help here, guys,” Iris said.

“You could unravel it?” Cisco suggested.

“Not without running at over seven hundred miles an hour,” Doctor Wells said.

“And that might kill you,” Caitlin said.

“Today’s been a weird enough day, full of impossible things,” Iris said. “What’s one more?”

She took off, purple lightning streaking behind her. Iris raced counter-clockwise, against the wind, pushing herself to go faster and faster. She had to. Dad was in danger, she had to.

This suit really was way too big for her.

Iris raced, and raced, and the tornado collapsed in on itself. She skittered back, gasping for breath, Cisco’s cheering in her ear.

“You’re the girl from earlier,” Mardon said. “That’s how you got in. I didn’t know there was anyone else like me.”

“I’m not a murderer like you,” Iris said. “Give up, Mardon.”

“Are you going to stop me?”

Wind was forming around him again. Iris couldn’t do it again.

A gunshot rang out.

“Iris?” Doctor Wells asked. “What’s happening?”

Mardon fell to his knees, then the floor. Iris’ dad was standing behind him, eyes wide.

All Iris could do was pull the cowl down and run over to hug him.

“Iris,” he said. “What…”

“It was the lightning, Dad. It did this to me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The particle accelerator gave off some unknown energies and particles, and one of them changed my DNA. It did the same to Clyde Mardon. And, Dad, when I run there’s lightning.”

“I saw. And you think…”

“Don’t you?”

“It’s impossible.”

“So is running at seven hundred miles an hour, and yet I just did it.”

“Barry was telling the truth. Henry’s innocent.”

“Which means the man who murdered Nora is still out there, and we don’t know who he is, or what he wants.”

“Barry could be in danger.”

“We have to tell him.”

“Iris, Barry’s spent years looking. This whole journalism thing was about him looking, and we both know it’s gotten him into trouble more than once. He rushes in, and this time won’t be any different, except this time he’s be right, and the man in yellow has already killed one Allen.”

“Dad…”

“I’m not saying never tell him. I’m saying…”

“That we have to worry about keeping Barry safe for now. I know. We can’t tell him until we know why the man in yellow targeted Nora. I guess I am just like you.”

“Iris, I’m sorry about keeping the truth about Francine from you.”

“I get it, Dad. You were trying to keep me safe, we’re doing the exact same thing now. I love you, you’re my dad, you’re all I needed.”

“You have to go before anyone else gets here.”

“I’ll see you at home?”

Her dad nodded, and Iris ran.

* * *

Cisco had already started sketching when she ran back into S.T.A.R. Labs’ Cortex.

“I’m thinking blue and white,” he said. “Lightning bolt on the front. With a mask, and maybe yellow boots.”

“Maybe,” Iris said. “If there are other metahumans like Clyde Mardon out there, someone needs to stop them.”

“This is my fault,” Doctor Wells said. “We’ll help you, Ms West.”

“Thank you. You won’t talk to Barry, will you?”

“He’s your best friend,” Cisco said.

“Barry’s mother was murdered a few days after his eleventh birthday,” Iris said. “Barry said it was the man in yellow, the man in the lightning. His father was arrested, and Barry came to live with us. Everyone said the man in yellow was a false memory he invented to hide the trauma of watching his father kill his mother, or they just accused him of being a liar. It’s why he took journalism, why he started his blog, why he looks for the impossible. He wanted to be believed.”

“And you think he was describing a metahuman,” Caitlin said. “Fourteen years ago?”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “But I know he’s my best friend, and I can’t let him get involved in this if it’s going to put him in danger.”

“We won’t say anything,” Caitlin said. “My fiancé died in the particle accelerator explosion, I know what it’s like to lose the person you love. We won’t let anything happen to Barry if we can help it.”

“Thank you,” Iris said. “I should run, Dad wants to introduce me to my mother and Wally properly.”

“I’m sure we’ll see you again soon, Ms West,” Doctor Wells said.

“You absolutely will.”

* * *

Eobard watched the feed in the Time Vault with interest. Iris seemed nervous around Francine and Wallace. He could already see the restlessness of the dormant Speed Force in Wally. He’d been struck that night too, it was only a matter of time before it activated.

He’d come back to kill Barry. When that had failed, he’d murdered Barry’s mother. He’d planned on directing Barry’s path to push him to that lightning bolt again, but not this time. Henry’s years in Iron Heights had still driven Barry’s desire for justice, but it had disillusioned him with law enforcement just enough to send him on another path to seek it. And Iris’ constant search for truth had instead led her to the sciences and forensics. It was as if they’d swapped lives, to such an extent it had been Iris struck by lightning and chosen by the Speed Force. Eobard could never have anticipated this. This was completely new.

This was going to be _fun._  

 

**Author's Note:**

> The original post is [here](http://fezwearingjellybananas.tumblr.com/post/182279201252/westallen-role-reversal-my-name-is-iris-west)
> 
> I did already write a s1 AU, so this will just stay one chapter I think. Also I have so many other WIPs to finish, I probably shouldn't have even written this, but it was stuck in my brain and only took a few weeks, so I did. However I do have some notes:
> 
> \- Wally got struck by lightning while drag racing, found out his sister got struck by lightning the same night (weird, right, especially since he didn't even know he had a sister, or a dad), then things get even weirder when his sister wakes up. It's like time stops sometimes, and then he _runs_
> 
> \- Barry already has his blog, and he jumps right into it when he finds out about "The Streak". It might be the proof he needs to free his dad finally, so he really doesn't get why Iris is trying to talk him out of it (Joe he gets, finally Joe believes him, and now he decides it's too dangerous). At least it gets him a job with Picture News, they pay him slightly more than minimum wage, he is no longer flat broke, maybe he can even afford a car soon (maybe his bike- which is a second-hand red road bike with panniers on the back that Iris found cheap at a probably not car boot sale for his 21st- stays forever since bikes are great, I love my bicycle, and who needs a car when your best-friend-later-girlfriend-later-wife has super speed?)
> 
> \- Iris/Linda could be nice, since there's Barry/Eddie, but also I have a soft spot for Wally/Linda. Either way, Iris/Patty would 100% happen
> 
> \- Barry introduces the Streak to the Arrow through his blog, that's how they meet, but they kind of become friends after that (the Black Canary is cooler Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin all say, and Oliver agrees)
> 
> \- I do have a soft spot for Thallen but also I enjoy Eobard having to deal with the fact he came back to kill Barry and instead he needs Barry alive and also he keeps making out with Eobard's great-something grandfather. It does make an appearance in another fic I've written (and another part of the same series I'm still writing), but also I don't think I could resist writing Eobard get slowly more and more pissed off that he finally destroyed the Flash (kind of, he's counting it, this counts) and yet Barry with no powers is still the biggest threat to his existence. Also they renamed him the Reverse Streak because no one knows what a Flash is and it's such a bad name why did this happen to him, all he did was go back in time to try and kill a child and instead killed their mother
> 
> \- It's even right before Wally shows up, he sees the Streak fighting this other speedster and races to help, they name him the Flash, and yet still they insist on calling Eobard increasingly ridiculous names, he's right there. "Fast Colonel Mustard" Cisco are you serious (this one happens after Cisco has started getting his vibes and he absolutely knows he just called Eobard Fast Colonel Mustard to his face.)
> 
> \- Iris nicknames Wally Kid Flash (the yellow suit fits him way better than it fits her), but he calls her Little Streak because she is small, so they're as bad as each other
> 
> \- The time vault has a picture of Barry as the Flash, which gives Cisco the idea to make Wally a red Flash suit
> 
> \- Barry also sees this picture, when Eobard kidnaps Barry instead of Eddie because a) why can't Eddie go propose to his great-something grandmother instead, is he seriously proposing to Eobard's nemesis right now, b) he still hates Barry, c) since Nora is not Iris' mother he's not sure he still has that plan but he does know Iris would do anything to save Barry so blackmail it is, and d) he's a dick like that
> 
> \- That's also how Barry finds out Iris is the Streak (he's not happy about being lied to)
> 
> \- Iris, in fact, does consider going to save Nora, she liked Nora, and she wants Barry to be happy. Maybe it means she loses her powers, but isn't it worth it? But then Barry and Henry say no, don't, they miss Nora a lot, but life doesn't work like that
> 
> \- I think Eddie still dies and Eobard still gets erased. That's the final straw, that's it, he's going to go fight those weirdos in the time machine and find a magic stick to fix this himself. He might erase Barry from existence too while he's at it. Maybe screw up Barry's wedding to Iris ("Okay, I have literally done nothing to you because you erased that timeline, can you please just leave us alone?" "No, I hate you" "Fine, I'm going to use some of Cisco's names next time I write some news that features you.")


End file.
